Covering the Imminent Fall of Tripoli

CNN is going into overdrive tonight covering what Libyan rebels hope is the imminent fall of Tripoli. CNN is simulcasting CNN International programming anchored by Hala Gorani and Michael Holmes with Wolf Blitzer in D.C. Correspondent Matthew Chance is reporting from inside a hotel in Tripoli where Gadhafi government minders had been monitoring the foreign press, but have left. During one short report, Chance said to Gorani, “At the moment we really don’t know what’s going to happen next. Hala, I think I’m going to have to leave it there.” Meanwhile, Sara Sidner is reporting from the road on her way to Tripoli. The plan is to stay live throughout the night and into the morning.

On the broadcast evening newscasts, only NBC News had their own correspondent in Tripoli. Richard Engel appeared live with a group of Libyan rebels, some of whom walked up to 15 miles to the capital earlier today. CBS News used a reporter from Sky News and ABC had a phoner from a BBC reporter while ABC’s Jeffrey Kofman reported from the Tunisia/Libya border.